XIII. But admitting there are circumstances where these apprehensions do not exist, still it does not follow, that they are not attended with very serious inquietudes. Suppose that after enjoyment, a loathing should ensue, which happens very frequently, and which actually did happen to Amnon with Thamar. You see in this case, for the sake of a delicious moment, a disagreeable obligation intailed upon a man for life. If he resolves to break the noose, he exposes himself to the rage of an abandoned woman, who finding herself neglected, runs mad, either through love or hatred, which are both equally dangerous. If his criminal affection continues, the impatience of not enjoying his beloved object with freedom, over-balances the satisfaction, which is afforded by a delight that he usurps by stealth. In such a situation, his bowels being gnawed by a furious envy is unavoidable. But what if jealousies should steal in? Those who have experienced the rigour of these furies well know, how much they exceed the most exquisite criminal enjoyments, and that whole years of that false glory are not equal to one day only of this hell. Reflect on what has been said, and then tell me, whether you can figure to yourself a state more unhappy. St. Austin, who found himself so long entangled in the labyrinth of the three before-mentioned vices, is a good witness, that the dish which they present to the appetite, is filled with putrefaction. Hear his words, when he addresses himself to God in the sixth Book of his Confessions: _Inhiabam honoribus, lucris, conjugio, & tu irridebas, patiebar in iis cupiditatibus amarissimas difficultates._ SECT. III. XIV. Nor ought we to conclude, that those few whose will with respect to other men, is the law, and whose libertinism there is no rein to check, navigate the sea of vice without inquietude, for they also experience the waters of that sea to be extremely bitter. I mean sovereign princes. Nero was lord of the earth, that is to say, master of the whole Roman empire. He gave the most latitudinary loose imaginable to all his perverse inclinations, and those inclinations were irrefragable decrees. The weight of government, sat very light on him, and far from supporting the state on his shoulders, which by way of example, had been done by the best princes, he trod it under foot. All the world obeyed the sceptre, and the sceptre was the slave of appetite. He possessed whomsoever he liked, and put to death whomsoever he hated. Love in the Emperor’s hands, held its attainment and completion, and in the hands of his instruments, hatred held the knife. Passion could not carry a man to a more horrible pitch of extravagance, than he manifested, when he set fire to Rome to indulge his cruelty, and also to gratify his base appetites, which were evident by the indignities he offered to his own sex. All this, to the disgrace of human nature, was executed by that monster in iniquity.